As above indicated, the present invention relates in particular to a support structure for use in the mounting of articles such as display units (e.g. LED, CRT or plasma televisions) upon a wall. In such applications the wall will typically be a fixed structure made of bricks, blocks or the like. The word “wall” as used in this patent specification is to be interpreted more broadly that this, however, and comprises any permanent or temporary surface upon which the article is to be mounted. In some applications, the wall will be a panel or set of panels which have been erected for the purpose of accommodating the article.
In order to mount an article upon a wall using the present support structure, it is necessary to form a plurality of holes into the wall, suitably by drilling, into which respective fixings such as a screws or the like can be passed whereby to locate and secure the support structure.
It is known to be difficult to drill a hole at a precise position in a wall, particularly a wall made of bricks or concrete. The drill which is used to form the hole will often be held by hand, and it is known for the drill bit to deviate or wander from the chosen location during the drilling operation. Often, there will be a deviation of the drill bit due to inaccuracy of alignment of the drill, and/or differences in the composition of the wall.
The misalignment of drilled holes in the wall is exacerbated when a plurality of holes have to be drilled, with the position of each hole within an array of holes being predetermined. The requirement to drill an accurate array of holes is a typical requirement for mounting a large or heavy article such as a television, since a single fixing will typically not be able to support the weight of the article.
A large array of holes is typically required to support modular articles. The mounting of modular articles upon a wall typically requires greater accuracy for the holes since the respective modular articles are separate and are typically required to be accurately mounted relative to the adjacent articles. Since the articles themselves are typically not directly interconnected, the support structure(s) must be accurately mounted upon the wall in order to provide the accurate positioning of each of the modular articles.
Display articles such as flat screen televisions are often mounted in a modular array so as to provide large-area displays for public broadcasts and the like. With modular displays such as this the relative positioning of adjacent televisions is critical to the viewer's enjoyment, as the image provided by each television must be properly aligned with its neighbours. It is not possible to overlap adjacent televisions, and any significant gaps between adjacent televisions will be readily apparent and detrimental to the displayed image.
If the wall upon which the modular articles are mounted is made of bricks, blocks or concrete, it is rare that the wall will be totally flat. The uneven surface of the wall is another factor making the correct alignment of the modular articles more difficult to achieve in practice.
The requirement for the correct alignment of drilled holes is widely known, and the manufacturers of mounting structures will typically seek to overcome the problems outlined above. Shelf brackets and the like will typically require an array of drilled holes which must be positioned correctly and accurately relative to one another, and it is known to provide openings in the brackets which are larger than the fixings in order to allow some adjustment in the position of a shelf bracket, in order to overcome any wrongly positioned drilled hole.
The manufacturers of modular structures such as display stands also face the problem of the correct alignment of the respective parts of the modular structure. WO2011/012286 by the present applicant provides a spacer plate for interconnecting respective support profiles of a display structure, the spacer plate allowing adjustment of adjacent profiles so as to better ensure that they can be properly aligned.
U.S. patent application 2008/0083865 discloses a support structure for mounting a single article, specifically a flat screen television, upon a wall. The correct positioning of the drilled holes is a pre-requisite for the accurate mounting of the television, and the disclosure includes the use of a template to identify the position of each of the fixing holes. There is no disclosure of any means to compensate for a hole which is drilled away from its predetermined position.
Another known method of aligning an array of articles requires the adjustment of each individual article relative to its neighbours. Typically, an installer will mount all of the articles in the array and will fix a chosen one of the articles (often a corner article) in position upon the support structure. The installer will then adjust the position of an adjacent article relative to the fixed article, and when properly adjusted will fix that article in position. The requirement to adjust sequentially each of the articles in this manner is time consuming even for a skilled installer, and an unskilled installer cannot always achieve the accuracy required.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,007,121 addresses the problem of aligning adjacent articles in a modular array. The solution offered by this patent is to interconnect each pair of adjacent articles by way of respective clips. The clips add substantial cost and complexity to the support structure, and significantly increase the time taken to assemble the array of articles.